Imaging For a Catalogue Cover

The pick of my recent images for James and Sons.

INTRODUCTION

This post is about today at work. There was a lot of imaging to do for the cover of our March catalogue (auction takes place at Fakenham Racecourse on the 30th and 31st March), also a van to be loaded up with stuff for tomorrow’s auction, and I also got a few other lots imaged.

THE COVER IMAGES

The images for the cover of this catalogue spanned a great range of items, some of which I had already imaged but most of which needed doing today. The early lots to feature are 83, 110, 124 and 135, one a framed photograph and the other three military items…

124-c — The naming on the rim of lot 124

Next we come to a selection of…

SMALL COINS

These coins, the first of which is lot 209 and the last 269, we done using the scanner at high resolution – and for safety I did both faces of each coin and assembled composite images.

We next have three items of ephemera, nos 301, 311 and 359:

We then come to four images of…

SPEEDWAY MEMORABILIA

Ex422 — A second image of the extract from 422

The last of the new images needed for the front cover were of…

A TOY, SOME PROOF COINS AND A JAPANESE MEDAL

The toy is lot 562, and I was particularly pleased by this choice for reasons that will be instantly obvious to anyone familiar with this blog! The Japanese medal is lot 686, part of small run of militaria in among the proof coins, of which lots 665 and 728 were also to feature on the cover.

I was particularly pleased that this toy (lot 562) was chosen to feature in our catalogue!

The full gallery for lot 665 starts here (six images total)

A HANDFUL OF GENERAL IMAGES TO END

The non-cover images I did today were less special, but a few are worth sharing:

390 — An MCC tobacco pouch? Yes – at one time smokers versus non-smokers was a regular fixture.

AUCTION AT THE MAIDS HEAD HOTEL

An account of Wednesday’s auction at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich, with a few other bits and bobs, including another mention of the Positive Autism Awareness Conference.

INTRODUCTION

Although mainly concerned with the James and Sons auction that took place the day before yesterday, this post will also mention a few other things at the end.

THE AUCTION

This section divides into several subsections, starting with…

GETTING THERE

Given the early hour at which it was necessary for me to be at the venue and the fact that I was not returning straight to King’s Lynn but was instead going to my parents because we were going to a bridge evening at the Jolly Sailors I decided to aim to be on the 5:55AM X1 bus to Norwich, with the more circuitous X8/X29 route, the first of which departs at 6:10AM as back up.

I achieved my intended aim of being on the 5:55AM bus and this bus not only departed on time, it benefited from a clear run along the A47 to arrive at Norwich bus station precisely when it was supposed to. I then walked down to the Maids Head, picking up a few photos along the way as I was in plenty of time…

This map ios located near the Surrey Street entrance to Norwich Bus Station

This light show adorns the Castle Mall shopping centre

The Maids Head has a very old name sign worked into the building itself

THE SETUP

All the stuff for the auction had to unloaded from the van and set up in the room we were using (the Erpingham room) at The Maids Head, and a few things had to be moved around for the room to properly organised for our purposes. That and a few technical hitches notwithstanding (mere trifles such as initially having no internet connection!) all was ready by 9AM when the first viewers started to arrive.

THE AUCTION ITSELF

The auction started quietly, with only a few people present at the venue and no one bidding online on the early lots, but the internet bidding started at just after lot 100, and was very lively at certain points – lot 204 with an estimate of £50-60 went for £260, lots 283 and 286 both went for substantially above estimate, and a sequence of sets of penny reds with Great Western Railway perfins saw some spirited bidding involving a room and an internet bidder, with half a dozen lots estimated at 10-15 actually getting three figures a piece.

These are some of the penny reds which caused such excitement.

Lots 597 and 737 both sold very cheap to yours truly (even with buyers premium there was change from £15 for the two lots put together). Here they are…

Lot 737 – a nice piece of railwayana

Lot 597 – an added personal factor – Stroud happens to be my birthplace.

In connection with these pieces of railwayana, a quick reminder of my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be.

THE CLEAR UP

The last lot went under the hammer not very long after 2PM, after which everything that had not gone to people in the room had to be loaded back on to the van. Then my colleague Andrew and I travelled back to Fakenham in the van. My initial plan had been to get the 17:38 bus on from Fakenham to East Rudham, but because we were ahead of schedule, but not sufficiently so for there to be a likelihood of me catching the 15:38, and because the weather showed its teeth when we just east of Fakenham, Andrew very kindly gave me a lift to East Rudham. I worked out that I had handled some of these lots seven separate times (carrying them to my imaging area, carrying them to the storage area, carrying them down to the shop for viewing, carrying them the shop to the van, carrying them from the van to auction venue, carrying them from the auction venue to the van and finally carrying them from the van back to the shop).

POST AUCTION

My early arrival at East Rudham proved useful – my parents had unearthed some silver spoons which needed to photographed with a view to selling them. I have two picture galleries in this connection, both created from the same set of originals – the first using Microsoft’s own image editing software, and the second, which I unveil for the first time, using my own image editing software, which was designed specifically for use with Nikon Coolpix cameras…

This is the set of images created using Microsoft software…

This was the result when I edited the same photos using my own software.

The bridge went well after a poor start – I emerged plus 13 on the evening (65p at Jolly Sailors stakes).

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY/ CALENDAR

Monday 1st February: James and Sons feature on Antiques Road Trip – episode on air on BBC1 at 4:30PM (should be available on i-player by 6PM) – I am the guy in the red jacket sat next to the auctioneer.

Wednesday 24th February: James and Sons auction at Fakenham Racecourse, starts at 10AM. This auction features a wide variety of lots, beginning with bonds, passing through banknotes, coins, stuff from HMS Britannia, Ephemera and Militaria before finishing with Stamps.

Friday 15th April: Positive Autism Awareness Conference, the Dukes Head Hotel, King’s Lynn – for more information check out the following links:

Yesterday’s blog post dedicated to this event

West Norfolk NAS’s facebook page

The Facebook event listing

West Norfolk NAS’s website

CALLING ALL LONDONERS

I have shared some of London mayoral candidate Sian Berry’s transport related ideas on www.londontu.be:

London City Airport

Fair Fares

This is the official Fair Fares piece

Having provided these excellent suggestions Sian has turned her attention to London’s sky high rents, with this proposal for a London Renter’s Union

If you are eligible to vote in this election I urge you to vote for Sian Berry.

A Tough Day at Work

An account of today at work, and some images from this week.

INTRODUCTION

Although the text element of this post is about today specifically, the images I include come from several different days. Also, although the text refers to two auctions, the one coming up this Wednesday, a full catalogue for which can be viewed here, the images all relate to the February auction, which is nearly all done.

AN EXHAUSTING DAY

Because Wednesday’s auction is at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, and we cannot have viewing days there it was necessary to lay entire auction out for viewing in the shop. There being exactly one person physically capable of doing so in attendance it was straightforward to establish whose task this would be.

This process required setting up a table at the back of the job (a couple of minutes), transferring the stock from where it was being stored (approximately an hour and a quarter all told) and then checking off each item to make sure all was present and correct (another hour and a half even at my work rate).

This task accomplished, and sandwiches consumed, it was time to get back to imaging items that will be going under the hammer on February 24th. This is a much more varied auction than this coming Wednesday’s specialised affair, featuring a full range of items, some of which I now display…

The above gallery shows the first 28 lots of the auction. My second gallery shows items from elsewhere in the auction…

CATALOGUE FRONT COVER IMAGE

An account of the creation of the front cover image for James and Sons February auction catalogue, complete with images, and som,e bonus pictures of very old coins.

INTRODUCTION

The most important thing I did at work today was create an image for use on the front cover of the catalogue for James and Sons general sale on February 24th (we having a First Day Covers sale tomorrow, and a Postal History/ Stamps sale on January 27th as well).

DECIDING ON THE IMAGE

My employer wanted a collection of weapons (museum pieces just to be clear) to feature on the cover, so the plan was to take one image of the whole collection if this could be managed. Thus, to prepare for taking the image, I cleared a table in the shop downstairs on which the items could be posed, reversed the display cloth on said table so that the plain side rather than the red provided a background that could not interfere with the image and set the items out. The lot numbers were 535 through 546, so I posed numbers 536-544 vertically, numbers 545-46 horizontally next to them and lot 535 horizontally either beneath or above the rest of the display depending on which angle one prefers (I have three complete images). Finally, to get sufficient elevation to get everything in a single shot I had position a chair adjacent to the centre of the table so that I could stand on it to take the picture.

THE IMAGES

I emerged with three complete pictures, a close up of lot 535 (which I subsequently augmented with an even closer shot of the maker’s name), a shot of the other bladed weapons and a shot of lots 545 and 546…

535 (2) — The image of lot 535 extracted from the composite image

BONUS PICTURES

Of course I have done a lot of other imaging for this auction as well, and the items that particularly took my fancy were these very old coins (lots 101-14 inclusive), which I imaged a few days ago with the aid of the scanner…

110 cropped but not edited

110 over-edited

110 sharpened but not edited.

114 cropped but unedited

114 over-edited

114 sharpened but not otherwise edited.

Future Plans

A post setting out future plans after a quiet period.

INTRODUCTION

It has been a while since I did anything on either this blog or my website, www.londontu.be due to it being Christmas, and me spending a few days with family. I will be resuming posting properly from tomorrow, and for today will let you know what is in store and share some recent pictures from work.

FUTURE POSTS 1: THE BLOG

I have several ideas for posts on the blog:

A review of Steve Silberman’s book Neurotribes
A review of Jerry Coyne’s Faith Versus Fact
A review of Robert Harris’ Imperator
Something about Spectre, which I saw on Boxing Day

THE WEBSITE

Other ideas besides these will occur to me, but at the moment I have two definites:

A post about some London Underground playing cards
A post about London: A History in Maps (three of the maps do relate specifically to London Transport.

PICTURES

Just a few today, featuring stamps that will be going under the hammer on January 27th…

575 602 602-a 602-b 602-c 550s 380-a 399 399-a 399-b U-B

Great Centenary Charity Auction II

An account of last night’s presentation at Fakenham Racecourse.

INTRODUCTION

The first Great Centenary Charity Auction was held on June 28th 2015, and the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London benefitted to the tune of £20,000. The second auction, for which we have already received some donations, will take place on June 29th 2016. This post is about an event that took place last night at Fakenham Racecourse which was simultaneously a presentation of certificates for those who had contributed to the success of the first auction and the official launch of the second.

GETTING THERE

The journey there was uneventful, and I arrived very early, having walked direct from Oak Street where the bus drops off down to the racecourse. Once I had located the event, which was happening at a…

NEW VENUE

Rather than use the same venue that had been used for the auction, we were in the newly opened Cool Roxy Owners and Trainers Bar (named in honour of one of the most famous horses to have raced this course).

DSCN8281

Within the bar was a nice display which served as a backdrop for the presentations.

The bar itself had some very interesting features…

Because we had the great good fortune to have the head of The Royal British Legion, John Crisford, taking part in the presentation we also had a standard bearer…

DSCN8279

THE PRESENTATIONS

Auctioneer and Director of the Great Centenary Charity Auction David James told everyone the names and a bit about each person who was collecting a certificate, and they received their certificates and posed for a photo (one of the pictures of someone posing with their certificate looks different from the rest because the official photographer could not do the photograph of himself!).

SOME CLOSE UPS OF IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

Here are some of the more important documents for you to see…

Certificate — A hi-res scan of the certificate.

DSCN8257 — Info about the Blast Injury Studies Centre

DSCN8264 — Early donations for auction II

A SMALL MISHAP ON THE WAY HOME

The plan had been that since there are no buses running from Fakenham late enough for me to get home under my own steam my parents would give me a lift back, but they forgot. Thankfully, a very helpful member of staff at the Bull on Bridge Street was able to locate a taxi, and my parents covered the fare for me. By the time I made it home I was too knackered to check and edit the photos, so I attended to that at 6:30 this morning, before setting off for work. I will conclude this post with a few mor pictures that are tangentially connected to its subject matter…

JAMES AND SONS’ NOVEMBER AUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this post about James and Sons‘ November auction, which took place on Wednesday.

GETTING THERE

I managed to catch my intended bus, departing King’s Lynn at 6:50, and at that time of the morning it was no great surprise to enjoy a clear run to Fakenham, alighting at Oak Street at 7:30. Fifteen minutes later I arrived at the auction venue, the Prince of Wales Stand at Fakenham Racecourse. I was the first James and Sons employee to arrive at the venue. I took a few pictures of the auction lots out an display…

THE AUCTION

In spite of a few technical hitches we got underway at our scheduled start time of 10AM, and the last lot went under the hammer at approximately 2:30PM, a little behind schedule because some of the lots attracted very intense bidding (i.e for the right reason). I am going to cover a few of the truly outstanding highlights and a couple that were of personal interest…

LOT 34

This was a file of photographic negatives of 1940s vintage (approximately 800 pictures worth – I did a count in response to pre-auction query), estimated at a modest £10-20, it soared to an eye-popping £300, the result of an internet bidding war involving at least four people.

LOT 183 – CANADIAN TOKEN

This Prince Edward’s Island halfpenny token was valued at £15-25. We knew that it was a rare item, but obviously it was much rarer than even we had supposed. A frenzied internet battle pushed the price up to a barely believable £410. Appropriately enough the successful bidder proved to be a Canadian.

LOT 452

We had suffered a disappointment in the militaria section, with irrefutable proof that what should have been the star item of the whole auction was actually a clever fake rather than the real deal. However, a couple of items fared well. This item, a collection of Arabian/ Ottoman empire medals attractively displayed in a glass fronted box had been valued at £45-60, but internet interest pushed the hammer price up to £190

452

LOT 481

This German Luftwaffe Pattern officer’s Sword was valued at £90-100 and sold after some lively bidding for £240.

Our next auction, on December 9th, consists entirely of militaria, specifically badges and cloth patches collected over a lifetime by a Suffolk gentleman. Unusually for a James and Sons auction it will be taking place at our shop, 5 Norwich Street, Fakenham, NR21 9AF

LOT 504

This splendid Kelly’s Map of Bucks (actually Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire) dating from 1920 sold to yours truly for £18. More can be found in this post on my London transport themed website where it has been given a whole post to itself.

DSCN7755

LOT 577

Whereas the bid I put in on lot 504 was made more in hope than expectation, this item given its nature really had to end up in my possession, and duly did so. Like lot 504 it has a post to itself on my website.

DSCN7760

THE CLEAR UP

A two stage process, beginning with getting the stock that was still at the racecourse (either unsold or sold to bidders who were not present to collect) back to the shop and concluding with transferring the rostrum and a few other items to our storage unit in Syderstone. This done, my colleague Andrew dropped me off in central Fakenham on his way home, and I had time for a well earned pint at the Bull Inn before catching the bus home, arriving back at my flat almost precisely twelve hours after having left in the morning.

Catalogue Now available for James and Sons’ November 25th Auction

A blog post embodying the announcement that the catalogue for my employers upcoming auction is now ready for viewing.

INTRODUCTION

The catalogue for James and Sons’ auction at Fakenham Racecourse on November 25th is now available. Printed copies can be picked up at James and Sons’ premises at 5 Norwich Street, Fakenham for £4, while an online catalogue can be viewed here.

THE BULK EMAIL

Yesterday I sent an email our to a large number of people about this auction, a jpg of which I reproduce below:

AAlert

JAMES AUCTION ALERT

PICTURES

For the extra pictures I am going to concentrate on the silver vesta cases, most of which I was able to scan at very high resolution, but some of which I had to photograph, and because they are silver photographing them came with the challenge of minimizing reflections and avoiding the distorting effects caused by strong artificial light shining on silver…

63-a 63-b

Lot 64, usually convexity is what prevents small items from being scannable, this time it was concavity.

64-a 64-b DSCN7254

Lot 210 - this was particularly tough to get a good image of. — Lot 210 – this was particularly tough to get a good image of.

Lot 49, first of the vesta cases the needed to be photographed rather than scanned.

49-a 49-b

The vesta cases that were scannable were these…

This is lot 47, the last lot you will see is lot 65 (lot 210, the big bulbous vesta case seen earlier is this only one out of sequence.

47-a 47-b 48-a 48-b 50-a 50-b 51-a 51-b 52-a 52-b 53-a 53-b 54-a 54-b 55-a 55-b 56-a 56-b 57-a 57-b 58-a 58-b 59-a 59-b 60-a 60-b 61-a 61-b 62-a 62-b 65-a 65-b

@aspitweets One Year On – and Other Stuff

Marking my first year on twitter, also mentioning autism advocated Robyn Steward and Kevin Healey and livened up with plenty of pictures.

INTRODUCTION

As well as marking one year since I set up my personal twitter account I have a few other things to cover, and of course have some pictures to liven things up.

TWITTER ONE YEAR ON

A year ago (plus half an hour for the seriously pedantic among you) I set up a personal twitter account, @aspitweets. Here is a link to the first tweet I posted back then:

It has been an amazing year, as I am closing on 3,000 followers. It has also been very beneficial to this blog, reaching people that I would never have reached without twitter.

TWO AUTISM RELATED THINGS

On Thursday Robyn Steward, an internationally renowned autism advocate gave a talk at Churchill Park Complex Needs School, half a mile from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn which I was lucky enough to attend, having been invited by West Norfolk National Autistic Society branch chair Karan MacKerrow. The talk was exceedingly interesting, but rather than regurgitate it here I direct you to Robyn’s website so you can see it in her own words. Although one has to be careful about taking pictures in a school, I have some photos from the evening…

As stated in the body text I respect the need for care about taking pictures in a school, but I thought that this excellent display board deserved sharing and carried no risk of causing offence.

The first of two slides that I photographed before the talk started.

Robyn herself. The hat and the pink shoes are tthere because she cannot recognise faces and therefore needs to wear something distinctive to recognise herself in photos.

My second Autism related piece is less happy. Kevin Healey recently contacted his MP, Paul Farrelly, about the bullying he was suffering. Unfortunately, rather than helping or offering any sort of support all this MuPpet came up with was a suggestion that Kevin should get off twitter, failing to note that for Kevin twitter is a vital communication tool. Kevin has responded by launching another petition, directed specifically at Mr Farrelly, which I urge to you to sign and share.

A BRIEF UPDATE FROM JAMES AND SONS

Yesterday was devoted to imaging for our sale on November 25th at Fakenham Racecourse. The last lots will be catalogued and ready for imaging by November 8th, and the plan is for the catalogue to be available by the 15th (i.e ten days before the auction). Assuming that the lotting is done promptly the imaging will be no problem…

I scanned the four prints that make up this lot individually and then assembled those scans to make this image - the next four are of the individual scans. — I scanned the four prints that make up this lot individually and then assembled those scans to make this image – the next four are of the individual scans.

A FEW FINAL PICTURES

A small side window, King's Lynn Museum. — A small side window, King’s Lynn Museum.

The same window with the entire surround in shot.

The plaque detailing the history of the fountain.

Banknotes, Bonds and Stamps

Some glimpses into James and Sons next live auction (October 28th, The Maids head Hotel, Norwich).

INTRODUCTION

This post deals with things I have been doing at James and Sons today. Before I go into the main meat of the post, the photographica that I have previously mentioned on a couple of occasions will be going under the hammer on November 25th. This auction on October 28th, which puts us back on shcedule after our previous auction happened six days later than planned is a small auction, but very high quality.

CHINESE BONDS

Lots 1-12 in this auction are old Chinese Government Bonds (I will be putting out an official press release tomorrow) ranging in face value from £100 to £1,000. Imaging these items took a lot of work, particularly lot 12.

1 (2) 1-a 2-a (2) 3-a 4 (2) 4-a (2) 5 (2) 5-a (2) 6 (2) 6-a (2) 7 (2) 7-a (2) 8 (2) 8-a (2) 9 (2) 9-a (2) 10 (2) 10-a (2) 11 (2) 11-a (2) 12-a

Lot 12 waqs so difficult because of the effect of overhead lighting on it (see earlier pic with coupons on display) that ultimately it had to be done in the kitchen with the light in that room switched off.

BANKNOTES

I only did a couple of banknotes today – producing smarter images of a couple that needed that treatment…

16-a 18-a 18-b

STAMPS

Although I did image some stamp lots day there will be far more about the stamps tomorrow when I have put out a press release about them. For the moment a handful of today’s images…

38-a 46-a

A full catalogue listing for this auction can be viewed at the-saleroom.com

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